APL Ltd. said its $825-million acquisition by Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. has been completed, creating one of the world's largest shipping and container companies. APL will maintain its headquarters in Oakland and will become a Neptune subsidiary. The move comes amid a wave of consolidation in the shipping industry, as competition toughens and rates fall. Neptune Orient and APL said the combined company will have a broader reach and greater flexibility to cut costs.

The longshore union and shipping industry reached a tentative agreement on technology -- the stickiest issue in their prolonged labor dispute -- early Friday, after all-night talks with three federal mediators and a top AFL-CIO official. No details were released on the deal, which many saw as a breakthrough in the stalemate that has disrupted commercial trade along the West Coast for more than a month.

Longshore union officials denied they were violating court orders by orchestrating slowdowns at West Coast docks, and told the Justice Department that the blame for continuing backlogs of cargo lies with the shipping lines. "The fact is our workers are ready, willing and able to work," said James Spinosa, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which has been in contract talks with the Pacific Maritime Assn., representing the shipping industry.

The number of import containers at the Port of Los Angeles fell below 200,000 in November for the first time in eight months, marking the shipping industry's traditional end-of-the-year import slowdown. Most imported goods earmarked for the holiday shopping season arrived by the end of October, which set the port's single-month record for inbound cargo at 251,000 20-foot-long shipping containers. November's tally was a relatively quiet 199,400, port officials said.

As expected, Gov. Pete Wilson has signed legislation authorizing a vessel tracking service for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, clearing the way for the country's first major ship-monitoring system in private hands. The tracking system will be operated by the Marine Exchange, a nonprofit agency controlled by the shipping industry, but will have to be certified by the Coast Guard and a state oil spill prevention administrator.

As expected, Gov. Pete Wilson this week signed legislation authorizing a vessel-tracking service for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, clearing the way for the country's first major ship-monitoring system in private hands. The tracking system will be operated by the Marine Exchange, a nonprofit agency controlled by the shipping industry, but will have to be certified by the Coast Guard and a state oil spill prevention administrator.

The Great Lakes shipping industry suffered a second straight season of declining cargo in 1990, with an increase in iron ore shipments being offset by decreases in coal and stone shipments, it was reported today. The Lake Carriers' Assn. said 1990 shipments of the three major commodities totaled 133 million tons, down from 133.4 million tons in 1989 and 136.7 million tons in 1988. The season ended Feb. 1. Iron ore cargo, however, reached a 10-year high of 69 million tons, up from 66.

More than 6,000 women from as far away as San Diego have returned application cards for the 350 part-time dockworker positions that will soon be made available at Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, a shipping industry official said Friday. "There were a lot more women than we expected, that's for sure," said Vince Lamaestra, labor relations administrator for the Pacific Maritime Assn., representing the ports' shippers and terminal operators.

Representatives from labor, management and the shipping industry are scheduled today to discuss the impact on local ports of the recently ratified labor agreement between longshore workers and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents steamship lines and terminal operators along the West Coast. The three-year contract, approved Aug. 25 by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, increases pay, health insurance and pension benefits.

The shipping industry turned over to the Justice Department what it calls proof of a "concerted, systematic work slowdown" by the longshore union since West Coast ports were reopened under a federal court order Oct. 9. Despite an injunction calling for work to resume at "a normal and reasonable rate of speed," the Pacific Maritime Assn. said productivity per worker dropped by as much as a third in the first week after the docks reopened.